Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans….

Update from planet “happiness project”!

Well, firstly I should apologise for taking such a long period between updates on this little “happiness project” of mine through the year so far. I suspect it may now be a couple of months between drinks and I find myself rather parched.

A major highlight through this year from working on a “happiness project” has been the incredible people i have come across in my day to day life. I’ve been taking more time to stop and smell the roses with friends and even strangers!

I bumped into a lady in the supermarket a few weeks back now. She looked lost and sad. I walked up to her and asked her if I could buy her a coffee. Despite her initial apprehensions, she agreed to my offer and over the ensuing hour or so I was able to learn that she had recently been left by her husband and he had taken the kids with him and was now in the process of taking her house from under her feet. It was a sad story from the outset. By the end of our brief time together I had her smiling and laughing which was a small win, even if it meant she would feel happy for only a few minutes.

Life can be cruel for some.

I’m going to make a rather blunt admission at this juncture. Things have not fallen into place the way I suspected they would have by now. Of late i’ve been submerged in news stories of Robert Mugabe winning yet another corrupt election, the Australian political agenda from both parties losing me from day one of the federal election campaign with empty promises and Bradley Manning being hung out to dry by the United States for exposing many thousands of lies behind the Iraq war and America’s occupation of other nations. More so, it is the black hole of reality TV, false celebrity worship and societies deep passion for materialistic possessions that I see on a daily basis which has left me feeling flat, lost and deflated.

It’s been a tough few weeks trying to comprehend all the greed and selfish behaviour that floods our life on a daily basis.

The more I have emphasized my intentions to get the little things right such as offering my seat on a bus, opening doors for people, offering to pay for coffee when out with friends, making small donations to charitable organisations or encouraging people to lead a more healthy and active lifestyle my eyes have been opened up to a deluge of human behaviour that really isn’t fitting for the world we live in today. I guess no matter how hard one tries you can’t always feed a positive energy upon people who don’t want it.

I recently completed my third marathon for the year and will be knocking up number four in just over a week. The one thing I have taken from running in these events is the wonderful nature and kindness from other human beings when out on course. There have been some endearing stories shared among runners along the way and beautiful words of encouragement from all involved. One of the highlights of running a marathon is when you hit a wall and your body screams at you to stop. At this point there is an easy option or an enriching option. The enriching option is where you just keep going. Through doing this you break down mental barriers and learn so much about yourself as a human being. Learning curves you can take into your everyday life.

The greatest thrill however from running the 42.2 km’s along the way is the buzz you get when you run past the little kids cheering everyone on. They love giving high fives and the smiles on their faces are always a motivating factor to keep pushing on towards the finish line. Children are indeed an amazing gift to our world!

With all my focus on running there have been some projects that I planned on commencing that have yet to materialise. Taking up French lessons was a big project for me this year whilst the other major goal was to learn how to play guitar. I should duly note that by the end of August I shall have laid the foundations on both these projects. The results of which I am sure will be somewhat amusing.

Another passion of mine is foreign language film. Something I want to do in the coming weeks is to take along friends who have never been to the cinema to watch a film of this genre. If you are one of those people who has yet to open your mind to the beauty of foreign language films then let me know. I will pay for your ticket and buy you a coffee if you come along and allow me to open your senses to a new world of adventure.

Undertaking a “happiness project” really does open your eyes to the myriad of human behaviour around you. The one thing you learn quickly is that not everyone is as keen to see positive changes in the world. You just have to keep soldiering on through with the knowledge that when you come out the other end you know your project will have had a positive effect on some people.